Turn Around - You'll Find Me There
by whereisthefreakingnalu
Summary: Modern Neighbors AU. In which Gray and Juvia have a Taylor Swift "You Belong With Me" house set-up, and Natsu skips that whole part to climb into Lucy's bed. Nalu and Gruvia. T for cursing.
1. Gray 1

Their houses are right next to each other, and Gray can literally crawl through his open window into Juvia's house if he wants, not that he ever gets the urge. Also, he has horrible luck, so he'd probably fall through the two foot gap between their rooms and plunge to his death, or to break a few bones, seeing as they're on the second floor.

So whoever designed their houses was fucking stupid, but that's okay because he knows Juvia kind of well now.

And, well, they're not _Natsu and Lucy_ close – the two live in the houses across the street, which are designed the same way. Gray still remembers Lisanna, who used to live in what is now Lucy's house, and how she and Natsu used to be best friends.

Gray and Juvia are a little past that stage, he thinks. Or maybe they aren't, but he thinks that their path of friendship is going in a different direction, so he can't really be sure.

They're definitely not like Natsu and Lucy, though. Apparently Natsu has this thing about becoming best friends with the cute girls that move in to the house conveniently next to him and occupy the rooms that very nearly share a window with his. The thing is, however, that his creepiness level has maximized with Lucy. It's been proven that he often crawls into her bedroom and spends more time in there than he does in his own. He even supposedly sleeps in Lucy's bed with her at night – Lucy's complained about it a lot.

It's funny how she hasn't, y'know, _closed her window_ on him. And then there was that time when Natsu collapsed in bed after basketball practice instead of going over to her room, and she allegedly climbed into his bedroom and ordered him to scoot over so she could clamber onto his bed, admitting that she couldn't sleep without him anymore in the form of an angry rant that blamed Natsu for being an idiot.

Gray knows this is fact because Natsu wouldn't stop bragging, and Lucy's face turned the color of the flamehead's extra-spicy noodle soup.

So, _no_, he and Juvia aren't that close. Not that he wants to be. Nope, not even a little.

Although he's pretty sure he saw a doll of himself on her bed, which was more than a little creepy.

Actually, he's pretty sure Lucy wouldn't even consider having a doll of Natsu… you know what? He probably should stop thinking of Lucy near Juvia. She can probably sense it using her not-at-all amusing or cute stalker powers and come rushing in, rambling about her "love rival."

Speaking of which, he's thinking this while Loke is over at his house so that they can play CoD, aka Call of Duty or The Best Game Ever or Terrible Mainstream Shit Gray Shouldn't Own, and Juvia has just walked into her room and her hair is down today – it's wavy and he likes that better than when her hair curls up weirdly at the end. He doesn't know why she bothers trying; he knows it takes her longer to style it that way but it looks better when she doesn't so why does she even do it?

Anyways, he can't be caught staring or Loke will never stop laughing like the dickhead he is, so Gray turns back to his game and begins designing a new Custom option because _fuck_ how does he not have one with BAL-27 in it? Except he can't remember which custom label he can replace due to its suckiness… was he using Custom 2 when he got knifed by Loke for the bajillionth time?

That's when he hears Loke making some sort of a strangled choking noise, so he turns around to see him openly gaping at Juvia's window.

"Hey, what do you think you're-" He breaks off mid-sentence as he sees Juvia peeling off her shirt, leaving her in nothing but her bra and skirt. Loke makes some sort of an unidentified gurgling noise.

Gray's face flushes red because _what-the-actual-flipping-fuck-is-she-doing?_ and he sprints to his window like he never quit cross country, leans over the edge, and screams, "Juvia, CLOSE YOUR FREAKING WINDOW NEXT TIME" before slamming his own window shut, panting because that was the most exercise he's done all day.

Lyon, the sorriest excuse of a brother ever, busts into his room like he's on some cop show and Gray's half-expecting him to say, "Put your hands up!" except all Lyon says is, "Did you say Juvia? What happened with Juvia? Did something happen with Juvia? JUVIA?"

Man, what a let-down.

"Get out of my room!" Gray screams like the brat he is, or maybe more like Ultear – and oh, look, speak of the devil; she's right there and she looks _pissed_ – as he pushes Lyon out of the doorway, which proves to be somewhat of a challenge as he's flailing to reach the window.

"Shut the fuck up!" screams Ultear, knocking them both swiftly to the ground. "I was doing chem homework, but guess what? I couldn't because_some little kids were having an actual freaking catfight_, and God, Gray just let Lyon have your freaking room so he can stalk that weird girl in peace and we can actually have some semblance of quiet in here!"

"Yeah, Gray!" chimes in Lyon, but Ultear twists his arm painfully. "Ow, ow, 'Tear please," cries Lyon in pain, and ha! He deserves it.

But Lyon remarkably morphs back into his cool, composed, and I-haven't-seen-or-heard-of-Juvia-recently state, and he draws up enough of his dignity to say, "I didn't know texting your new boyfriend counted as doing chem homework."

Ultear drags him out of the room kicking and screaming to his inevitable death. Gray thinks it was a noble sacrifice, and God bless him for having at least one moment of awesomeness. Even though they're atheist. Whatever.

Meanwhile, Loke seems to have recovered from the whole accidental spying thing, and he pushes his glasses smoothly up his nose and smirks like he hasn't just been spluttering like some idiot. "So…" he drawls, his eyes shining with evil intent, "You get that view often?"

"That's it. Get out of my house."


	2. Natsu 1

It's not like Natsu is stupid… he just doesn't _try._ Okay, well, he tries sometimes, and when he does, he puts his all into it. The thing is that school is boring and books are boring and studying makes his head hurt.

It's been two hours since he sat down before his math homework and all he has managed to do is learn how to balance his pencil on his nose for 5 seconds, devour a plate of sandwiches drenched in hot sauce, and chase Happy around his room.

He must've started working (if you'd call it that) around four because it's already six in the afternoon and Lucy's light is clicking on. She's got this funny lamp with glittering stars hanging from it that it makes her whole room glow gold; her blinds are down but the light shines through and Natsu jumps up in excitement, hurtling towards his window and flinging it open so that he can easily push up her broken window that can't be locked and wiggle in under the blinds.

He immediately falls onto Lucy's bed, stationed perfectly under the window to catch him, and Lucy sighs in exasperation instead of screaming in shock and terror like she used to.

He can tell it's been a long day for her at work because she doesn't even try to scold him, just grabs a change of clothes and slips into the bathroom to change out of her waitress outfit. When she gets back out, she immediately settles down at her desk to write something, but he's not sure whether it's her novel or one of her letters that he knows he should never interrupt, so he flops onto his back and waits. When she folds the paper and lays it in her locked drawer, he knows the answer before he sees the sad smile on her face, so he pulls her onto the bed next to him.

She lets out a huff of irritation before curling into him and mumbling, "I have an English essay to write."

Natsu frowns at her deadened words and says, "Why do you sound so sad if you like writing?"

She grumbles as his arm shifts so his elbow digs into her ribs, and she wriggles a little until they're both comfortable again. "I just don't feel like it today."

"I have math homework," admits Natsu, propping his chin up on her forehead, but she immediately jerks away with a scowl and yanks on his ear. "Ow! Luce, stop!"

"No, I know what this is! You haven't done any and you need help! _This_ is why you need to pay attention in class," she hisses, but her victory is short-lived as Natsu easily bats her hand aside and scowls stubbornly.

"But the teacher is so boring! I just fall asleep at his voice…"

Lucy facepalms and immediately begins trying to shove Natsu out of her window. "Get your homework _now_ or else I won't help you!" she demands as Natsu laughs.

"I'm going, Luce, don't kill me," he says. "By the way, did you get fatter?"

He's forcibly ejected from her room at once, and she slams her window shut after him, but Natsu isn't perturbed because, _hey_, the lock's broken; he can go in any time. So he just gathers up his things (with Happy clutched in his arms) and clambers back into her room. He's met with a furious yell that _no, _she is _not_ fat; if anything, she's been getting skinnier because he's been eating all of her food!

Natsu laughs and Lucy relents and they work on his homework until Lucy absolutely has to start on her essay. Without Lucy's guidance (basically, now that no one's supplying him with answers), Natsu immediately just gives up on the rest of his work in favor of faceplanting on her unbelievably soft bed. Happy curls up on the pillow, and by midnight Lucy kisses him on the cheek before half-heartedly crawling over him to sleep on the side of the bed with the wall so she won't fall off and steals all the blankets as revenge for his snoring.

He doesn't notice, anyways; he only has enough energy left to press a messy kiss to the left of her nose (she cringes and complains about his lack of coordination) before passing out.

* * *

"I can't believe you think Erza and Jellal are closer than we are!" complains Natsu, in the middle of trying to keep a pencil on his nose for fifteen seconds now; yep, he's a total overachiever.

Lucy's scowling because he's contradicting her and she was supposed to be having a sleepover with Levy when he interrupted. She'd known this was going to happen and warned Levy beforehand, but _still._

"They've known each other since they were kids!" argues Lucy. "And they'd do anything for each other; remember that time Erza was almost hit by a car and Jellal pushed her out of the way? He was hospitalized for two months!"

Natsu frowns petulantly, the pencil falling from his nose. "I'd do the same for you, Luce!" he proclaims, flailing his arms. "We'd do anything for each other, too! And they're just _regular_ neighbors! He can't even climb into her room! That's _lame_!"

"_No, _that's _nice_!" says Lucy, jabbing her finger into his chest. "Jellal probably isn't eating Erza out of house and home!"

"Nuh-uh, 'cause I'm helping you so you won't get any fatter!"

With a strangled cry, Lucy tackles him and starts trying to punch him, but all it does is make Natsu laugh as he puts his hands up to cover his face. Levy's cracking up in the corner and Lucy's _mad_. "Natsu, get out!" she screeches, shoving him towards the window.

Almost immediately, his personality takes a 360 turn as he launches himself at her, hugging her around a leg and crying, "Don't leave me, Lucy!"

Lucy grumbles and settles back down, Natsu is smug, and Levy has an evil smirk on her face. They all sleep on the floor in sleeping bags and Natsu wriggles into Lucy's because he feels like cuddling and she's like the best cuddler ever, so yeah. She mumbles something along the lines of him not snoring or she'll Lucy Kick him and presses a sloppy kiss on his chin, as per tradition. He kisses her on the forehead and they sleep in the overly heated, cramped sleeping bag.

In the morning, Lucy and Levy watch TV shows as Natsu sleeps some more. In the afternoon after Levy leaves, Lucy and Natsu migrate to Natsu's house to babysit Wendy while Igneel and Grandine are out, even though that's a joke because Natsu is way more of a child than Wendy will ever be.

Lucy makes soup for dinner and they watch it on the couch by the television so they can have a Disney marathon that Natsu protests vehemently to. It's a losing battle anyways, because Disney films are practically Lucy's life blood and Wendy eats the stuff up. Lucy props her legs up on Natsu's lap and shares a blanket with Wendy as Natsu screams at the TV, seemingly energetic until he just burns out like a candle and collapses, snoring.

Lucy is forced to haul him up the stairs and onto his bed before tucking in Wendy. Instead of going back home, she shuffles back to Natsu's room, kisses him on the forehead, and collapses in his bed.

He rolls over and drapes an arm around her waist, drowsily pressing his lips against her temple, and promptly falls back asleep.

* * *

When they go to school the next day, Lucy screams bloody murder as they're met with school walls papered with pictures of them curled up together, asleep. Embarrassed, she fumes for a moment, wondering how this could've happened, before screeching, "Levyyyyyy!" and taking off.

Natsu surveys the plastered walls, ruffling the back of his hair and beaming with pride, before heading towards an unsuspecting Gray. "Come fight me, ice prick!"


	3. Gray 2

You know you're screwed when:

1\. You've got a big partner project in History.

2\. You can't choose your partner.

3\. Your partner goes by the name of Natsu Project-Ruiner Dragneel.

(Exceptions include: Lucy and Erza.)

* * *

Gray Fullbuster is having an awful day. Natsu is by his side, being an idiot, and _godfuckingdamnit_ if he could've chosen his partner for his semester finals in History, it probably would be – well, not Natsu.

Well, actually maybe. You see, everyone wants to partner with Levy because she's practically a certified genius, but _no way in hell_ is that going to happen with scary-ass Gajeel in the background, lurking over her shoulder with glowing red eyes like the ones you see under your bed at night. Not that Gray's ever been afraid of monsters under his bed – only pansies are scared of things like that. (If you tell_ anyone_, I'll freaking rip your arms off.)

He'd probably try to partner with Lucy, seeing as she's pretty smart, too (and rational, unlike some people), but she'd probably partner with Levy or Natsu, depending on whether Natsu has a chance to flying-tackle her before she and Levy reach each other.

If Loke hasn't found some pretty girl to partner with, Gray would work with Loke, but this is rarely the case. Erza is freaking scary, but she'd be an okay partner. Too bad she always works with Jellal.

He _would_ work with Juvia, except Lyon always manages to ambush her. Which did not make anyone happy. At _all_. Not even Gray.

Well, last option: Cana. While he and Cana get along great as long-time friends, she's always either drunk or buzzed, so… not such a good partner.

If all else failed (and, for some reason, it often did), he'd somehow be stuck with Natsu.

But, this time, he's _mad_. He didn't even have a chance to try for a better partner who won't somehow make the project burst into flames (Nobody's sure how Natsu managed it, but he did. He set Gray's beautiful ice sculpture _on fire_.).

And how the fuck did those lucky _shits_ Sting and Rogue end up working together, _again_?! In fact, looking around, everyone has a good partner but him!

Juvia and Erza, Cana and Lucy, Levy and Jellal, Lisanna and Jet, Warren and Fried, Bixlow and Evergreen… nobody else seems ready to pummel their partners in the face!

Why in the world is Mr. Macao so bad at pulling names out of a basket? He's not a good teacher, anyways, so why's he still teaching? He already shows up drunk to class for fuck's sake, _and_ he makes no effort to hide the booze by his desk. Speaking of which, why in the world does he still drink when he has a son? _Fuck_, did Natsu just hit him with a spitball? _At point-blank?!_ Not cool. Not-fucking-cool.

The best way to tell an idiot like him that his behavior is worthy of an asshole is to sock the sucker in the face. So that's what Gray did.

Silence falls over the classroom, only to be broken a second later as Natsu immediately jumps to his feet, a crazy grin on his face. "Let's go, stripper!" he cackles, lunging forward.

Of course, this is all normal. Macao chuckles, reaching for some booze, only to jump in surprise when he realizes it's missing (on a completely unrelated note, Cana has magically conjured up a bottle of booze that looks exactly like the one Macao is looking for, except it's almost empty). Lucy darts forward, hugging Natsu's back to restrain him.

Erza is upon them a second later, brandishing a dangerously sharp pencil in their faces threateningly. "No fighting on school grounds!"

Her expression scares Gray more than playing Five Nights at Freddy's alone in the dark only to have Loke or Lyon (two of the biggest assholes in his life have first names starting with L – coincidence?) jump out at him like the idiots they are. Except he can sock them in the face, but he can't hit Erza without sustaining major injuries.

Luckily for him, Mr. Macao, having discovered the culprit to The Mystery of the Missing Booze was none other than resident drunk Cana Alberona, begins tearing apart partners in order to separate Natsu and Gray while partnering Cana with Erza to prevent any more alcohol thefts, for the time being at least.

Gray gets Juvia as his new partner, which is nothing short of a miracle. It'll be easy to communicate with each other, seeing as they're next-door neighbors, and they're somewhat compatible, he thinks. (Cana tells him this, too, whenever they hang out, except she says it with a suggestive smirk.) He's tried talking about Juvia-Gray compatibility with Juvia herself once, just as casual conversation, except – and here's the kicker – she _melted._

Okay, so she didn't completely melt into, like, a puddle of Juvia-ness, because that would be fucking gross and more than a little disturbing. But he's not sure how else to describe her half-slump, half-faint.

If they were in a cartoon, he thinks she'd have hearts in her eyes.

Just to clarify: he doesn't find it cute. He's pretty sure of this, no matter what Loke sniggers as they're having their weekly CoD match.

Anyways, unfortunately for Lucy, she and Natsu have been deemed suitable partners by the old drunk passing himself off as their teacher. Gray sort of expects Lucy to scream in horror and anguish, but all she does is blush beet red and start telling off a giggling Levy for something-or-the-other. He thinks he gets it, but it makes no sense because Natsu is an idiot and a loser. Girls, Gray decides, are extraterrestrial beings that he will never understand.

Natsu is pleased with this development, as he begins blabbering to Lucy in joy - Gray doesn't really hear what he says because he's too busy being confused as Lisanna, who's sitting next to him, nudges him with a happy giggle of, "Isn't Nalu _so_ cute?"

She's moved back and it's weird that she's faded into the background of Natsu's life as a close friend; they're still disgustingly close, but Natsu is stuck to Lucy like glue. Or a mosquito. Yeah, like a blood-sucking mosquito.

He's thinking of this, so he doesn't have time to respond to her puzzling question (what in the world is "Nalu"?), but he does notice when her face pales and she starts scooting away from him.

"What's wrong?" he asks her, not quite understanding until he sees Juvia standing over him with a crazy, I'm-going-to-kill-you kind of stare directed at Lisanna.

What is he supposed to do in this sort of situation?

He's about to say something super well-thought out, like "Uh, Juvia?", except Natsu is yelling at him again from across the classroom, a super-embarrassed Lucy trying to shrink at his side.

"Luce and I are going to beat your fucking ass at this project, Ice Princess!" calls Natsu, a shit-eating grin taking up his whole face.

"Bring it on, Flame Brain!"

War has just been initiated, and Gray is ready to win.


	4. Gray 3

Gray finds Cana out in the back hallway by some of the lesser-used classrooms that no one remembers the purposes for; it's the hallway known for being inhabited by hermit-like teachers that don't really care about what the students do.

She's running some kind of a betting system, her trusty booze bottle in hand, and she's asking the students in front of her, "That's twenty dollars on Nalu turning real in three months?"

The students debate for a heated minute before nodding furiously. Cana texts this to the real brains of the operation – fellow senior Mirajane Strauss, Lisanna's older sister – who chooses to run the tallies instead of most of the dirty work in order to keep her part in the system "anonymous," even though everyone knows it's her and no one in FTHS (Fairy Tail High School) cares that the Vice-Principal of the student board is getting involved in student affairs in a less-than legal way.

Sighing, Gray seats himself by Cana's side, causing the students to glance at each other and scurry off like he's going to say something they don't want to hear.

Cana cackles as she counts the four five dollar bills and tosses back a swig of booze. With a crooked smile, she turns to Gray. "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing much. Nalu means Natsu and Lucy, like, as a couple?"

"Yeah," clarifies Cana. "Took you this long. How'd you figure out?"

Gray shrugs, accepting the bottle as Cana passes it to him and wincing as he takes a sip. He's no lightweight, but he doesn't want to get buzzed during class, so he passes it back even though he's barely drank any. "Lisanna was talking about it. And, last time I checked, you _were_ running a relationship system, weren't you?"

"Smart boy," Cana says, just a little slurred, and tries to ruffle his hair. He pushes off her hand, scowling.

"Shit, Cana, don't make my hair look any worse than it already does," he complains like a little kid, but Cana laughs it off easily.

"Have you figured out what Gruvia is?"

Gray turns to look at her disbelievingly. "No freaking way. There's a couple name for _me and Juvia?"_

Cana laughs. "Well, she's made it pretty obvious she wants to bang you, ya know. And you're not doing a good job of convincing everyone you're sexually retarded."

"What?! I'm _not_ trying to-"

"Anyways, didja know some people are betting on you and Natsu?"

Gray splutters. What the actual fuck are these people on? "Why in the world would anyone think that?" he asks.

"Your little arguments _could_ be passed off as sexual tension," responds Cana with a lewd grin and fluttered eyelashes.

"Fuck no!"

"Fuck yeah! It's called Gratsu, can you believe it?"

Gray groans, burying his face in his hands. "No, Cana, you're killing me here."

"Don't worry about it, kid. More people are for Gruvia and Nalu, anyways. Or _Gralu_, for you and Lucy," she adds with a curved smirk. Cana is getting a big kick out of this. Gray can tell; it's like he's got this sixth sense when it comes to Cana getting sick satisfaction out of making him suffer.

It wasn't always like this. When they were kids, she used to be the shyest, nicest person _ever_. And now look; he should probably regret their friendship.

"But nobody bets on me," Cana pouts. "Am I really that unmatchable?"

Gray snorts, "Maybe it's because you keep sleeping around with random people. Or maybe you're intimidating everyone by being the one collecting the payments."

"That must be it!" Cana says, grinning brightly. "Here, you collect the money for today. I'll tell everyone and you tell me who bets on me!"

"What? No! That's a horrible idea!"

"Here, take my phone to contact Mira. Give me yours; you already know my password and I know yours. Swear you won't go through my texts, pictures, social media, or anything, and I won't violate your privacy. Do you think anyone will pay for fortunetelling if it's not Tuesday?"

"I dunno. Everyone's already used to you running shop on Tuesday and bets on Thursday. Anyways, this is a fucking awful idea; I don't know how to run this thing!"

His arguments are futile. Cana leaves him with a pat on the back and an empty bottle of booze. For some reason, he wishes it were full.

* * *

Students who head toward him look shocked first, then awkward. A lot of them back away when they see him sitting there.

He wants to bang his head against the wall, but every time he's injured, Juvia goes batshit crazy. So, instead he contents himself with cursing Cana to the best of his capability. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to use voodoo dolls; maybe he can ask Juvia to make one, seeing as she knows how to make dolls of people.

Or does she only make dolls of him? He's not sure if that thought is more creepy or pleasing.

* * *

At the end of the day, Cana has her results: three bets for "Baccana," one bet for her and Hibiki, and one bet for "Grana." It's not the outcome she wanted.

But Gray feels far more defeated than her. Today, there have been no Gruvia bets (Why is he disappointed? He'll figure it out soon, hopefully.), and, even worse… someone betted for Gratsu. _In front of his face_.

Cana pats him on the back. "I'm sure it was because the people who ship Gruvia are nice enough to not bet for you when you're sitting right there," she says.

It doesn't make his experience any less awful.


	5. Natsu 2

Lucy is convinced it's his fault.

Natsu is sure it isn't.

Okay, so they were kicked out of the library and got detentions. It's not that big of a deal; detentions are commonplace (for him, at least), and the library is overly quiet and stuffy and _boring_, anyways.

But every time he brings this point to Lucy's attention, she begins to turn all red like an Atomic Fireball and gets all mad at him for "getting them kicked out." Pfft, no way it was his fault. If it was anyone's fault, it was the library's for having such wobbly bookcases. They're lucky he didn't try to test their flammability, which is what he really wanted to do.

And, as an added bonus, he managed to nearly squish that dark-haired nerd that was flirting with (talking to) Lucy earlier.

Nerd was fine, however, as he'd been standing one inch away from where the bookcase had fallen. He would've been fine even if the bookcase had fallen on him, Natsu argued. After all, he (referring to Natsu himself and not Nerd) had only attempted to crawl on a _half-empty_ bookcase and Lucy had yanked him off before the wooden frame had fallen.

The librarian hadn't agreed.

Unfortunately, Lucy hadn't agreed either.

"Could have killed Ryan… Getting banned from the library for _a week_, how will I survive… Levy's going to be _so_ mad when I miss our weekly library meeting… Lost my reputation with Mrs. Dubose, who didn't used to hate me like she hates everyone else… What if we have to pay charges… Even worse, what if I get sued_…_ Ryan could have been _crushed_…"

There – she brought up that Ryan guy again! "Who's Ryan?"

"My friend Ryan! The person you almost murdered, you… you jerk!"

Natsu blinks. "Oh, you mean Nerd!" he realizes. "He wouldn't have been killed, Lucy."

Lucy sputters. "Well, you never know!"

"Having couple issues, I see?"

Natsu turns, confused. "Huh?"

Face flushing red, Lucy frantically shakes her head so that her hair smacks Natsu's arm. It actually kind of stings. Stings is a weird word, Natsu thinks. Stings. Stiiiings. Stiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggssss.

"No, Mirajane, it's nothing like that!"

"Nothing like what?" What had they been talking about again? "Aren't we supposed to order?"

They're in the coffee shop near the high school, frequented by many of their friends and various other students. Mirajane was the usual barista, sometimes accompanied by Kinana or Lisanna.

Lucy loves their Passion Fruit Iced Tea. Natsu mostly just flops around in confusion and ends up ordering a "Spicy Hot Chocolate" that isn't really spicy at all. That was okay, though, because Mirajane knows he likes his orders extra-hot and with extra spice, which sorta makes up for it.

Mirajane smiles secretly to herself. "Oh, we weren't talking about anything, really," she says, throwing a big smile in Lucy's direction (causing Lucy to blush furiously). "The usual?"

"Yep! Luce, I brought money this time!"

Half-expecting her to roll her eyes with a "Finally," Natsu's delighted to see a smile overtake Lucy's face as she ruffles his hair and praises him: "Good job, Natsu! I'm so proud of you!"

She must've really wanted him to bring his own money, which he virtually never does.

Pleased with himself, Natsu slams the money down on the counter. "I'll pay for both of us this time, Mira!" he announces with a big grin.

A beat of silence passes.

Lucy's happiness melts away. Her fingers wrap around his arm and squeeze tightly in a death grip as Mirajane giggles to herself, a hand covering her mouth ("Ara, ara.").

"_You need more than two dollars to pay for drinks, Natsu_," scowls Lucy. Natsu blanches as she lets go of his arm, her hand moving up toward his face.

"No, Lucy… don't…!"

His protests are lost as Lucy yanks harshly on his ear.

"This is what you get for getting my hopes up!"

"Ow, ow, Luce stoppit, stahhhp!"

But there's no stopping Lucy now. She begins to rant in that weird way of hers again, in short, breaking-off sentence fragments as Natsu flails desperately. "Thought you could finally fend for yourself… I thought you remembered you need money to pay for things!... Been going to the same coffee shop with the same order for _a year_ now… Still can't believe you don't… Such an idiot… You're buying me dinner again!"

In the background, Juvia shifts from foot to foot, hesitantly watching their "conversation" in apparent discomfort.

"Uh… could Juvia order now?"

* * *

**A/N: So I've had an attack of the dreaded _writer's block_ which is currently kinda still ongoing. I'd hoped that it would be cured as I wrote this, but I'm not sure if it worked. I apologize for the suckiness of this chapter which may or may not be because I wanted to finish it and had no idea where I was going. It's kinda short.**

**I'll try to update sooner, if, y'know, my writer's block goes away.**

**K so bye.**


	6. Gray 4

It's Lyon's birthday tomorrow and Gray is fucked.

Like, he hasn't forgotten his brother's birthday. He just… hasn't gotten around to buying the actual present yet.

In a last ditch effort to avoid shopping and all that, Gray patiently waits until Lyon leaves on a Juvia-stalking mission and begins frantically pounding on Ultear's door; she's home from college due to the fact that it's winter break and Ur wants the whole family back for Christmas.

Ultear screams, "Stop pounding on my door! I have important things to do!"

Gray ignores this and yells back, "Did you get a present for the shitface?"

"Yes, and you're not sharing _my_ credit! It's your fault for forgetting to get him a present, Grouch!"

Gray scowls at the use of his old nickname, which is totally uncreative and stupid and _no_ he's not a grouch. Sort of.

He hears a loud sigh from the other side of the door and Ultear opens it, her expression calculating. He thinks she's trying out a new lipstick, because he's pretty sure her lips haven't been fire-engine red before. Normally, he wouldn't have noticed because he doesn't really care about that stuff, but that is the most bright-ass color he's ever seen in his entire life.

He opens his mouth to tell her it looks fugly as revenge for her refusing to share Lyon's present, but Ultear grumbles, "I'll take you to the mall."

It's not a good deal at all, because going shopping is what he was trying to _avoid_, but this may be the nicest thing Ultear's said to him since he hit puberty. His shock makes a suspicious scowl slide on his face.

Ultear pinches his cheek. Hard. "Stop looking at me like that, Grouch. I'm trying to be a nicer person, and it's hard enough without you making that constipated face all the time."

So Gray sucks it up and accepts her deal, even though he kinda likes driving and also he doesn't want to go shopping, especially not with Ultear.

They don't say much on the car ride there, because Ultear has gone and changed "for the better" and Gray hates change and what does he say to her now?

He almost says something at some point, but when he looks at her, her eyebrows are drawn in and her lips are pressed in a thin line. He can tell that she's super pissed because some idiot crossed in front of her without signaling first, and it suddenly dawns on him that she hasn't honked once or even mumbled a single curse word and all of a sudden he's scared because he _kindasortamaybe_ doesn't know how to deal with her when she's acting even a little bit different.

They get to the mall and they're just wandering around when Gray sees Gajeel, and, like, what the fuck is Gajeel doing at a mall? The dude looks like he scrounges for his clothes out of trash cans, and also he does not look very happy to be there. At all.

Ultear's inspecting the mall directory thing to find good shops for Lyon, so Gray has time to subtly eye Gajeel and snicker to himself, imagining him sniffing around trash cans.

That is, until he sees Juvia run up, hug Gajeel quickly, and thrust shopping bags upon him while chattering excitedly about something – he thinks he hears the word "Levy" somewhere in there. Gajeel grumbles, but his face softens at the mention of the girl everyone knows he has a crush on. Sighing, he pats Juvia on the head. Juvia laughs and pushes his hand off with a smile.

Gray's eyes widen. _Oh_. He knows those two are close, because if anyone in the world besides Juvia called Gajeel "Gajeel-kun," they'd get their heads bitten off on the spot. But that doesn't make it any less weird to see proof of their friendship in person. He openly gawks like he's watching a zoo attraction.

Juvia rushes off to some other store, dragging Gajeel behind her like a giant lump of metal.

At that precise moment, Ultear turns to Gray, squinting, and asks, "Hey, Lyon likes girly stores like Abercrombie and Fitch, right?"

Confused, Gray stumbles over his words for a moment before mumbling, "I'm not getting Lyon any of that shit."

Ultear rolls her eyes and turns back to the directory. "Then what're you gonna get him?"

Gray stuffs his hands in his pocket, thinking. "Uh… all he's _really_ obsessed with is Juvia."

"Then why're we at the mall? Just take a picture of her or something."

"But he already has those."

There's an awkward silence as the two take in Lyon's weirdness and make eye contact in a way that clearly screams, "Our brother is a total creeper."

They decide on getting Lyon some kind of a stupid gag gift, because, as Ultear says, "He's not expecting much from you, anyways."

In the end, they buy some shitty-looking scarf that's striped light gray and the fucking ugliest shade of green-blue that Gray has ever seen, and he normally _likes_ that color. He'd protest to giving the horrible thing to anyone besides Lyon.

Ultear forces the shopping bag upon Gray ("I basically chose the present, plus you need to learn some chivalry, Grouch."), and he handles it awkwardly, considering that there's a half-naked male model on the front striking some kind of a super-embarrassing pose. Just holding it has made his masculinity drop at least 30%.

They end up having to return to Abercrombie and Fitch (yeah, they actually went there) because Ultear reminds Gray with a snort that he's just as half-naked as the male on the shopping bag and he realizes he must've left his clothes in the store.

They waste time loitering outside of the store, arguing because neither of them wants to go back in and risk choking to death on the perfume that's contaminating the air. In the end, Gray charges in, frantically searches for his misplaced clothing items, and dashes back out with his lungs screaming for air.

As they're finally leaving the store, they crash right into Juvia, with Gajeel in tow.

Immediately, a deadly aura surrounds Juvia as she glares right at Ultear. "Who's this?" she demands, releasing Gajeel.

Oh, right. She's heard stories of Ultear, but they've never officially met because Juvia moved in just as Ultear left for college.

Ultear coolly raises an eyebrow at Juvia, who's much shorter than her. "What's up with your tone?" she asks, already pissed. She's probably seen Juvia through Gray's window once or twice, especially with Lyon going all insane and stuff, but she has a big issue with other people's attitudes (which is a little ironic), so she probably doesn't give a flying fuck who Juvia is anymore. As soon as Juvia turned a glare on her and opened her mouth, Ultear's bitch mode was activated.

Gray can literally see the figurative train he's on, and it's headed straight for Fucktown.

"'Tear, let's go," he says lowly, subconsciously undoing buttons on his shirt.

Ultear slaps his hand off of his shirt buttons. "Get your shit together, Gray," she says, calmly. Her glare doesn't leave Juvia. "We're in public."

"Don't talk to Gray-sama like that!" blurts Juvia, and Gray can faintly hear Gajeel snort in the background.

"I can and _will_ talk to Grouch here however I want to," replies Ultear, dismissively. "Go find yourself someone else to immediately target with your hatred and go pester them."

Gajeel growls quietly, his eyes narrowing. "Let's leave, Juvia. It doesn't even fucking matter."

But Juvia's far too persistent. "This woman insulted Juvia's Gray-sama!"

Ultear rolls her eyes. She turns to Gray, seemingly not concerned with Juvia anymore. ("Have you seen my cloak?") She starts walking and Gray basically has no choice but to follow.

Juvia seethes as he leaves. He'll explain everything to her later; he's sure she'll understand. Maybe. He might wanna say something before she attempts to murder Ultear, because Ultear's even more of a ninja than Gray and will fucking _take her down_ no matter how strong he knows Juvia is.

Briefly, he wonders if Natsu ever has to deal with stuff like this. Probably not; his relationship with Lucy seems pretty uncomplicated (invade her personal space, get yelled at, apologize, hug, repeat).

He and Ultear stop at the food court for cold lemonade, and they both suck on the ice cubes, because Ur used to do it and she influenced them in the weirdest ways possible.

On the car ride back home, Ultear keeps glancing at Gray. Finally, when they're stuck in traffic, she says, "Sorry."

"For what?" he asks, confused.

"For being a bitch to you," clarifies Ultear. "I'm trying to get over that."

It's such an unexpected thing. He never would've imagined Ultear apologizing for something like that. "Oh, it's fine," he says honestly. "You're my older sister, so it was sorta… expected?"

Ultear shrugs with a smile. "Thanks, I guess."

"Well… I'm sorry for being an asshole and an arrogant little shit," admits Gray.

His words make Ultear laugh out loud. She turns in the driver's seat, ruffles his hair, and says, "Don't worry about it, Grouch. It gives you individuality."

This makes Gray snort and suddenly they're both laughing and that's okay (no, _great_) because maybe this happy feeling is the reason Ur likes having the whole family together during the holidays and bonding and shit.

It's funny how Gray never thought about it before, but… it's a nice feeling, having a sister.

* * *

**Random note: Apparently spell-check thinks "Abercrombie" is "beachcomber"?**


	7. Natsu 3

It's the early morning and Natsu is asleep, obviously – he only gets up early on Sundays to train and on Saturdays when Lucy wakes him up as she leaves for a walk.

Well, anyways, it's the early morning and Natsu is asleep except he's not because why is he falling and hitting the ground and why is Lucy yelling again?

"Natsu, _get up_, I swear I heard someone scream just now!"

Natsu mumbles incoherently and shoves his face back into Lucy's pillow, which he's taken to the ground with him. It's warm and he's warm and there's a lot of Lucy-smell that isn't completely masked by her perfume because she sleeps there, which makes the perfume fall off of her like a snake molting (at least that's how Gray described it… wonder why he was snickering when he said it).

Lucy yanks on his scarf, which feels kind of choke-y, but Natsu doesn't actually quite feel it at all because shhhh he's sleeping OW _did Lucy just stab him with a pencil like Erza does?_

_ Or… WAS ERZA THERE AND THAT'S WHO STABBED HIM?!_

He launches to his feet, jumping backwards and assuming a defensive position, which is holding a madly protesting Lucy in front of him as he yells, "You can't get me without hurting her, Erza!"

"Erza's not here, Natsu!" Lucy flails until Natsu gets a hold of his surroundings and releases her.

"Then what is it? I was asleep," he half-whines.

"I heard a girl scream," Lucy explains, a little fear creeping into her voice as she tucks a carefully sharpened pencil back into her desk drawer, for later use.

Natsu rolls this in his head for a moment, but it doesn't quite feel like anything's wrong. "I'm sure it's fine," he says, collapsing back on her bed, his arms and legs out so that Lucy has to maneuver around him and lie down over one of his arms with her legs tucked in.

She grumbles things to herself, things like "stupid" and "idiot" and "needs to make room for me – it's _my_ bed". He raises his head just enough to press his lips just under her eye, which was a total accident – he just wasn't aiming – and Lucy scrunches her nose before sighing and kissing his cheek, halfheartedly shoving him to make more space for herself.

Suddenly, Natsu bolts upright. "Did it sound like Wendy?!" he asks, his eyes big. "If anyone hurt my cousin, I'll kill them!"

Lucy sighs. "No, Natsu. I'm sure it wasn't her voice."

Natsu instantly relaxes, smushes his lips by Lucy's temple, lies down, and jolts back up as the scream restarts. He and Lucy share a look before dashing out the front door.

They don't really know what they were expecting, but what they see is definitely not it.

Shock. Confusion. Pure and adulterated terror.

The screaming girl – Juvia. Reasons for screaming – unknown as of the moment.

What they do know is that Juvia is yelling like a madwoman in the middle of the street in apparent anger as she throws water bottles hard enough on the asphalt that they explode.

Natsu's cousin Laxus, who lives just down the street, opens the door of his house wearing lightning-printed pajamas. He wipes his eyes of sleep and stands there a moment, blankly staring at the scene. Then, with a heavy sigh, he turns back around and retreats into his home.

Lucy watches Juvia's rage in half-awe, her eyes following the plastic wreckage of crushed water bottles in the street, lying in the splatter of water that glistens in the streetlights. "So many wasted resources," she mumbles.

Juvia shrieks some more, hurling more water bottles on the ground.

Natsu scratches the back of his head, turning to Lucy. "Is this a girl thing?" he asks, only to be smacked on the back of his head by an apparently offended blond. How was that insulting? Natsu pouts, rubbing his head.

"WHY?!" yells Juvia. "WHY DOES GRAY-SAMA NOT LOVE JUVIA? WHY DOES HE LOVE OTHER GIRLS? WHO WAS SHE? WHY HAS JUVIA NEVER SEEN HER BEFORE? WHY WOULD GRAY-SAMA HIDE HER FROM JUVIA? IS SHE REALLY THAT SPECIAL? WHY DOES SHE SPEAK SO FAMILIARLY TO GRAY-SAMA? WHY DOES HE HAVE A CUTE NICKNAME FOR HER? DOES 'TEAR' HAVE A SPECIAL MEANING TO THEM? WHY IS SHE ALLOWED TO HAVE A NICKNAME FOR HIM WHEN GRAY-SAMA WON'T LET JUVIA CALL HIM ANYTHING?!"

She screams once more in frustration, crushing an already ruptured water bottle under her boot.

Lucy sweatdrops at Juvia's rant. She stands on her tiptoes to pat down Natsu's bedhead, murmuring resignedly, "Go back to sleep, Natsu. I'll talk to her."

Natsu's a little too tired and confused to argue back, so he leans down to peck the top of Lucy's head with a mumbled, "'Kay, Luce."

"If I'm not back when you wake up, Juvia probably killed me," says Lucy. "Blame it on Gray."

Natsu nods back, accepting Lucy's kiss on his chin and staggering back inside.

Lucy pulls on the bottom of her pajama top, which is really just Natsu's shirt, and takes a deep breath to prepare herself before approaching the raging Juvia.

Lying in bed, Natsu can hear Juvia's voice drop at Lucy's arrival and the sickening crunch of another water bottle's death. He hears a hissed, "Love rival… did you know you and Juvia have another rival for Gray-sama's love?"

And Lucy's tired reply: "Juvia, go back to bed. This isn't helping."

"Why does Gray-sama love her and not Juvia?"

"Juvia, please. I don't know what you're talking about, but please stop killing the water bottles."

Natsu hopes Juvia won't kill Lucy. He can't imagine living without her. Where would the fun in that be? Oh, and he'd probably be sad. Really sad. He hopes she'll live past this encounter.

There's a brief sound of scuffling and then Juvia's crying. He knows Lucy wouldn't hit Juvia, but like. Yeah. Sounds like it, almost.

"Why won't Gray-sama love Juvia like Natsu loves love-rival?" wails Juvia.

"Juvia, I think you're delirious," replies Lucy, her voice shaking a little. "Natsu doesn't love me."

Except suddenly Natsu is wide-awake and he can't sleep because what. He doesn't love Lucy. Or at least he thinks he doesn't, but what exactly is love and how can he know for sure?

He tugs on his scarf, wondering if not wanting Lucy to die was a symptom of love.

After a little bit of thinking and a slight headache, Natsu lies back down. He hears Juvia give a choked sob and he hears Lucy saying, "Here, I'll walk you back to your house."

He nods to himself. Yes, he feels something for Lucy, and it's probably love. He loves Lucy. Okay, that doesn't sound so bad. It actually sounds kind of… nice.

Yeah, he could get used to this "love" thing.

Now, the problem was what being in love actually meant and what you do with it.


	8. Gray 5

Juvia's eyes are red, and she doesn't look very happy. Some weird mix of anger and sadness makes her pout, like she's a child or something and maybe had her toy stolen by… Elfman. Okay, Gray's not very good at coming up with analogies at all. And Elfman is standing right there. So sue him.

He looks at Juvia and squints, and he's kind of reminded of himself, back when he was in his emo kid phase. He wonders what's wrong with her.

Lucy seems pretty tired, too, come to think of it. She's slumped over her desk, and it's lucky for her that Natsu's not in this period or else she wouldn't be able to rest like she is. "What's up?" he asks her, because she's his friend and, thus, it is his duty as the best-fucking-friend-ever to see what's going on with her.

Lucy makes some kind of a half-whine, half-groan noise and glares(?) up at him. "S'all your fault," she mumbles. "Couldn't get much sleep at all."

"How's that my fault?" frowns Gray, not comprehending. He pats her head. "You okay?"

Lucy immediately shrieks and bats his arms away. She's flipping the fuck out and it's actually scaring Gray a little, so he screams, too. (Not, really, though. He's _far_ too calm and cool and collected for that. Okay, maybe he screams a tiny bit. But definitely not that much. Or louder than Lucy. Or really high-pitched.)

He falls out of his chair onto his ass and yells, "What the fuck, woman?" really loudly.

It's lucky that their teacher for this class is Gildarts, who raises an eyebrow at him but says nothing about threatening to spin him around or something. "Spinning" is his crazy English teacher's favorite threat; he thinks he'd like English better if he had, say, Lucy and Erza's teacher. Besides, the crazy old bat likes Lyon, which is fucking insane, even if Lyon is a slippery little shit.

Anyways, Lucy has stopped freaking out and is panting like she's just run a marathon, instead. Which he can't imagine her doing, even if she jogs and stuff to stay fit. Oh, and chases after Natsu all the time.

"What was that for?" he repeats, scowling and pushing himself up.

Lucy's eyes dart around the classroom nervously, before subtly gesturing towards a very-pissed-looking Juvia.

"Oh," he says.

"This is getting _bad_," Lucy hisses. "Has she seen you talking to any other girls lately?"

"Uh…" Gray thinks for a long time. "I don't think so."

"What do you mean you don't think so?" demands Lucy, her leg bouncing up and down. She does that when she's anxious or upset. "Anyone at all? You guys have nicknames for each other?"

"I don't let people call me nicknames," interjects Gray. "You know that."

"I _thought_ I knew that," corrects Lucy, looking livid. "Try to remember something right now. Juvia's… _emotional turmoil_ is affecting me."

"Huh?"

Lucy presses her face into her hands. "She was screaming about you in the middle of the street," she complains, slightly muffled and rather annoyed. "At like midnight. And throwing stuff on the ground. How did you not notice that?"

Gray blinks. "Um, when was this?"

"Last night." Lucy narrows her eyes. "Seriously, how did you not hear her?"

"Oh. I was hanging out with Loke."

Lucy makes a scrunched up face. "You guys had a sleepover?"

"What?" Gray's taken aback by her insult to his masculinity. No way! "No!" he says, and it sounds a bit too high-pitched. But hell if he's gonna tell her he and Loke watched movies and ate ice cream, because no-fucking-way is he ever going to admit that. (The movies were _action movies_, for the record.)

Lucy snorts to herself before relenting. "Yeah, 'kay. But you really need to do is talk to Juvia before she goes crazy. This is a lot of emotional stress for her, and I don't want to see a friend suffering like that. Also, it's cutting into my sleep schedule, and that better not happen again."

"But Juvia's so…" Gray coughs into his hand, trying to find the right words, "_emotional_ about this crap. I'm probably going to say something wrong."

"At least do _something_," insists Lucy.

"But I don't want her to start crying! It makes me feel like such an asshole."

"Yeah, well, you are one." Lucy sticks out her tongue. "Get used to it, Fullbuster. Also, I need sleep, remember? So does Laxus. And if this keeps happening and he figures out it's your fault…" Lucy trails off and slides her index finger across her throat.

Gray groans. "Ughhh, okay. But you need to give me girl advice or whatever so I don't fuck this up and make Juvia cry. Or hate me."

"As if Juvia could ever hate you," Lucy mumbles. "But, okay, sure. You guys really need to sort your shit out."

There's a beat of silence as Gray attempts to take in the idea that little-angel-Lucy-Heartfilia _cursed_. A slow smirk spreads across his face. "What was that? Did you just say _shit_? Wow, Lucy, I thought you were a model student."

Lucy flushes. "Everyone curses!" she defends herself, shrilly. "What's wrong with me cursing? Nothing! ...Don't tell Erza or I won't help you with Juvia anymore! Don't tell Levy, either! Or Cana! Or Mira! Or Natsu! Or… _anyone!_"

Gray holds back his laughter, but it's kinda hard. "Yeah, sure."

He pats her head again ("Gray, I'm not a dog! Don't pet me!"), and says, as a thank you for her support, "If Flame Brain doesn't man up and ask you out soon, I will personally kick his ass for you."

Lucy gets it. She rolls her eyes, but she gets it. She pushes his hand off of her hair and grins. "You'd better not, or he'll mope to me about it for weeks."

"Then he must complain to you every day, because I beat him all the time."

"What? No! Natsu's really strong! He wins fights against you all the time. Wait, no! I didn't mean for you to prove me wrong! Don't ditch class to start another fight! Gray, _stop!_"


	9. Natsu 4

Basketball practice sucks. Loke is a pansy.

Natsu drops his basketball duffel into Gajeel's beat-up car and flops into the seat.

Gajeel raises an eyebrow from the driver's side, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. "What's up with you?"

Natsu frowns. "Loke's pissing me off," he growls. "Asking me about Lucy all the time. It's annoying."

"Whaddaya mean? What's he asking about Bunny Girl? And get outta the front seat. That's where Shrimp's gonna sit."

"You're taking Levy home today, too?" Natsu doesn't budge, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, she's got Speech and Debate, so she needs a ride. So get up and stop moping."

Natsu scowls. "I'm not moping!"

"Yeah, you _are_."

"You wanna fight?"

"What's got you so worked up?"

Huffing, Natsu turns to the window. "Loke's being an idiot," he says. "Whenever Lucy doesn't go with me to watch our practices, he asks me where she is. All he wants to do is flirt with her! And then when I told him she was at home working on our project, he calls me rude for leaving her alone and not helping her! I'm not rude! _He's_ rude! Nobody wants to be harassed by him!"

"What? You jealous over Bunny Girl?" Gajeel raises an eyebrow.

Natsu waves his arms around. "Loke's just a pansy-ass jerk!"

"So… you _are_ jealous?"

"Jealous of _Loke_? No way! I could take him in a fight any day," Natsu says, confidently.

Gajeel pinches the bridge of his nose. "Not what I'm talking about, Salamander."

"Were you talking about something else the whole time?" asks Natsu, tilting his head in confusion. "Like having a conversation with yourself?" He bursts out laughing, and Gajeel snaps.

"Shaddup!" He lunges for Natsu, except, y'know, he didn't unbuckle and the seatbelt restraint thing starts working and pulls him back, which makes Natsu actually start tearing up from laughter.

That's when Levy finally arrives from Speech and Debate and slides into the backseat before stopping, confused. Natsu is cry-laughing and yelling that he can't breathe while Gajeel is cussing out his seatbelt. She sits there for a moment, trying to understand, before tapping on their shoulders to alert them of her presence.

When they turn, Gajeel's face is red from anger and Natsu's is red from his giggling.

Levy frowns, putting her hands on her hips. "Am I missing something here?"

* * *

Lucy is writing something-or-the-other as Natsu watches, his chin propped up on his elbow as he's lying on Luce's bed. It's something to do with their project – the essay portion, at least.

He's quite nearly forgotten what their project was on; he'd hoped it'd be more interesting. He pouts to himself – at this rate, Ice Stripper will probably beat him, considering he doesn't even know what the project is about. (Beat him at what again? At doing project work? At getting the better grade?)

He should turn to Lucy and demand to know what the project is on and proclaim that he's going to beat Ice Princess at this, hands down. Except he's been lying in the same position for quite a while now and he's getting a little tired… Luce's bed really is comfy…

"Natsu, you awake?" asks Lucy softly. She tugs on his ear lightly.

Natsu makes a face and shifts away, but he's too relaxed and half-asleep to say anything. He makes some kind of a mumbling noise.

"Happy just jumped into my room from the open window," says Lucy, her voice quieting with affection. "I think he wants fish. Have you fed him any lately?"

Natsu doesn't respond. He probably should, or Luce would be mad. Except she doesn't seem mad; she seems kinda… what was that word again? Cotent? No… there was something else… content, was it? Looks like he's getting smarter from Luce's books.

"Y'know, Natsu, you're kind of cute when you sleep," murmurs Lucy to herself, running her fingers through Natsu's hair. It feels nice, so Natsu doesn't bother flapping his arms around and yelling that he's not cute; he's an awesomely amazingly strong dragon, and _no way_ are dragons cute. (He's a little too tired for that, anyways.)

"Juvia's wrong," announces Lucy to herself, suddenly. "Natsu doesn't love me. He doesn't even know what love is."

Natsu kind of wants to jump up and say, "Nuh-uh, I do!" except he sort of doesn't really know what love is after all. Does she? How does she know? How could he?

"But maybe I love him?" she mumbles again, before slapping herself on her cheeks. "No, don't think those thoughts, Lucy!" Sighing again, she kisses him on the forehead and crawls back into bed.

Natsu mulls over this. Why's she trying to convince herself that she doesn't love him?

…Is there something wrong with loving him? Or just with loving someone? And she talks to herself (and _hits_ _herself_!), too.

Luce really is a weirdo.


	10. Gray 6

Lucy is tired again.

Gray notices this as he opens his front door to find her standing there with panda eyes, and he wonders to himself whether she's going to rage at him or what. Maybe her sleepiness doesn't have to do with him this time…?

"This is all your fault."

Oh, well never mind. Fuck optimistic thinking – it's clearly not getting him anywhere in life.

"What happened?" asks Gray, pushing down his panic.

Lucy glares at him as she brushes past him and into his house. "The local grocery store is covered in graffiti that says 'Gray-sama' over and over again in blue spray paint, along with some 'why?'s and 'Juvia still loves you's."

"What." Gray blinks, trying to absorb the information. "Are you shitting me?" he asks, weakly.

"I wish," spits Lucy. "Juvia nearly got thrown into juvie. I told her not to do anything like it again, or she actually would get thrown in, except Gajeel was there, and he just laughed and said something about the Rain Woman and strength and how juvie would be like a stroll through a meadow. How does that make sense?"

"Oh, uh… I dunno." Gray's fingers itch to yank off his shirt. This is too much stress. "Is juvy spelled juvie or juvy? I always thought it was juvy, but you say it like juvie."

"They sound the same!" Lucy looks like a disgruntled cat. Like the Grumpy Cat meme.

"Well, what do I do?"

"Talk to her, you idiot!"

"I don't want to see her cry!"

"Well, suck it up! And, for crying out loud, _put on your clothes!_"

Gray's eye twitches. He feels free, unconfined by the cloth prisons society has dictated its subjects to wear. Which basically means he's practically naked.

"But what do I do about Juvia?" he gripes, scrambling to find his clothes.

"Tell her you're not seeing anyone else," says Lucy, slowly, like he's stupid. She flops on his couch and her shirt is too big on her and… oh. It's Natsu's basketball jersey.

"She already knows that! And _ew, gross_, you're wearing Flame Brain's shirt? He sweat in that thing. _You're getting his sweat on my couch_."

Lucy glares. "This is about you and Juvia right now! Oh, and you need to get her an apology gift! She'll love it, really. Like instant forgiveness, considering it's Juvia and she loves you. Maybe flowers – no, a stuffed animal! And…" she trails off, her eyes brightening.

Fuck. Fuck. _Fuck_. That evil expression she's wearing does not look good at all. He kind of wants to ask what's up, but this is something he probably doesn't want to hear.

"Call her Juvie."

Yeah, nope. "The fuck, Lucy? Nicknames are stupid. Juvy is the stupidest name I have ever heard. No way am I calling Juvia that!"

Lucy's face drops, but she almost instantly gets mad. "I thought it was clever!" she tries to defend herself. "Like she almost got thrown into juvie! And it kind of matches her name! It's cute!"

"Goddamnit, Lucy, I'm not cute! I'm a fucking _man_."

"When did you turn into Elfman? And Juvia wants a nickname from you, and… it's clever, okay?! It's a clever nickname."

Gray pauses just to stare blankly at her. "Juvy is possibly the least clever nickname I have ever heard of," he says. "It's stupid. I'm not doing that girly-ass nickname shit. Her name is Juvia. J-U-V-I-A."

Lucy narrows her eyes at him. "You're saying it wrong. It's Juvie, not Juvy. Anyways, think of how happy she'd be if you called her Juvie. Just think of it."

And, yeah, so maybe Juvia would be super happy that he'd give her a nickname, but but BUT he's not going to sacrifice his dignity for this. Nopity nope nope nope. He's doing her a favor, too, only she doesn't know it.

"No," he says.

Lucy throws a pillow at him.

* * *

He has to meet up with her for their stupid school project for Macao or whatever, and his palms feel sweaty, which is super gross. He wipes them on his pants as he sits alone at the coffee shop where Mira works.

He's brought Juvia an ugly stuffed bunny that Ultear used to own, except she's never been a stuffed animal type, so the toy looks brand new. Because 'Tear never really touched it.

Gray hopes Juvia won't notice.

Girls love getting shit like gifts and stuffed animals, right? She'll just forgive him when he gives her the present, right? That's what Lucy said, right?

Juvia walks in, and Gray's hand spazzes involuntarily. Shit. Fuck. Damnit.

She regards him coolly, her eyes betraying no emotion. "Juvia has brought paper for planning," she says.

"I got you this," blurts Gray, shoving the bunny at her. "I'm not dating anyone."

Juvia blinks. "Gray-sama?"

"I'm not dating anyone," he repeats again, because his voice cracked before. Haha just kidding Gray's voice doesn't crack – it never cracks or goes really high… shit.

Juvia stares at the bunny in confusion. Clearly, Lucy's idea didn't work. She didn't know what she was talking about, did she? Gray opens and closes his mouth like a fish. She has doomed him. _She has doomed them all_.

Juvia looks up from the stuffed animal, her eyes brimming with tears.

Fuckballs. She hates it so much she's crying. WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT IS GRAY SUPPOSED TO DO NOW THIS IS RIDICULOUS HE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS CRAP OKAY.

"… Gray-sama got Juvia a gift! Juvia _loves it_!" wails Juvia, launching herself at Gray and strangling him in her chokehold.

"Ju-" he manages, trying desperately to breathe or at least say something. "Juv… Ju-"

Finally, Juvia realizes he's trying to say something and releases him. He gasps for air.

So… Lucy's advice _did_ work. Kind of. Did he have to do the other part, too? But… ugh. _Ugh_.

"Thank you so much, Gray-sama," says Juvia, happy tears pooling in her eyes. She still looks like a kid, Gray thinks. How strange.

"Juvy."

Juvia's eyes widen. "Gray-sama… heard about that?" she squeaks. "Juvia is so embarrassed! Juvia was just very sad and upset and… Juvia will be good from now on, she promises!"

Gray freezes, the blood draining from his face. What the fuck. He actually said it.

Gulping, he watches her anxiously twist her hands. Whelp. He's already done it. He can't back out now.

"No. You," he points at her, his hand shaking. "Juvy."

It doesn't make much sense. "Juvy," he repeats.

And, somehow, gets it. Like she's some mind-reader or something... she probably practices voodoo on her dolls or something. "Gray-sama… Gray-sama has given Juvia a nickname?" she squeals, beginning to choke him again. "This is the best day of Juvia's life!"

"Juvia…!" chokes out Gray. "Juvy! Can't breathe!"

* * *

**A/N: So like the Juvia/Juvy/Juvie idea came from kissandmakeupgrl so yeah **** all credits for that idea go to her. Have fun with them! Maybe you can buy horrible trinkets with them like with arcade tickets/credits/tokens and stuff :D**


	11. Natsu 5

It's Sunday afternoon and Natsu is hanging out with none other than his cousin Gajeel Redfox, because Lucy, Wendy, Juvia, Lisanna, Levy, Mirajane, and Erza all went out for some massive Girl Day or whatever, and Lucy had told him that he was strictly _not allowed_.

He normally wouldn't listen, but she threatened to get a lock on her window, so yeah.

And typically if Lucy was away, he would spend his day with Lisanna or Wendy, but they're both gone, too, so he's just left with Gajeel.

"Salamander… this is sad," grumbles Gajeel. They _were_ playing Bioshock (in Wendy's house, of course, because yeah), but they couldn't pass _this one stupid level _and Natsu was _all fired up!_ and ready to beat that dumb level… except Gajeel was not.

So they kinda had a fight.

Which kinda ended when they accidentally pushed one of Wendy's favorite glass wind-chimes off its hooks so it shattered on the floor.

Which kinda meant they flipped out and jumped into the car and rushed to the nearby mall to buy a new one so she wouldn't notice.

Which kinda left them in a girly wind-chime shop that filled with overly high-pitched sounds every time they moved.

Natsu pretends he doesn't hear Gajeel's _rude _and _gay_ comment about the sadness of their situation… wait. Gajeel's comment was more straight than gay, right? 'Cause Gajeel likes Luce's friend, who's a girl. (Or maybe it's bisexual...?)

Well, whatever. Natsu pretends he doesn't hear Gajeel's _rude_ and _straight_ (or bi) comment, 'cause he's above that and also time spent with Lucy has taught him that pretending not to hear what people say is a smart idea.

"Hey, does this look like Wendy's wind-chime?" he asks, holding up a red-tinted one with curling flames. "I like it."

Gajeel growls, "That looks _nothing_ like hers, you idiot!" He snatches it back, hanging it back up roughly. "Keep your mind on the fucking mission!"

"It's not my fault I don't remember what it looks like!" protests Natsu, huffily.

"What?!" Gajeel rounds on him quickly. "Salamander, you stupid-ass idiot! That thing's been hanging in her fucking house for years!"

"You actually pay attention to that kind of thing?" frowns Natsu, inspecting a wind-chime with what looks like a crude penis on it. "Hey, is this a dick?"

Gajeel chokes, shoving him out of the way to stare at the wind-chime. After a long minute, he growls under his throat. "_That's a fucking flower_, you uncultured ass. Why would there be a dick wind-chime where Wendy shops?"

Natsu winces at the mental images. "Yeah, okay, whatever."

They both go back to looking through the wind-chimes. At some point, the one store employee in the whole shop asks if they want any help. Gajeel glares at them until they slink away.

Natsu finds another wind-chime, with no dick-resembling parts at all. In fact, it kinda reminds him of Luce; she's always loved the stars, and the little stars and moons and suns and things on the wind-chime remind him of her lampshade at home.

He picks it up, handling it carefully, and turns to Gajeel. "Hey, Metal-face, do you think Luce would like this?"

Except Gajeel turns around at the same time, holding a wind-chime with little book charms, and asks, "Salamander, you think this is a good gift for Shrimp?"

They both stop and stare at each other for a long moment, wide eyed.

Then, they start screaming at each other for no apparent reason. Maybe it's 'cause they feel copied and cheated, or maybe it's because they were caught in such a girly situation / caught each other in such a girly situation. Whichever.

In the screaming commotion, a flailing arm knocks a pretty wind-chime off its hook.

There's a millisecond of déjà vu, where they glance at each other to convey the electric message of _oh shit._

Then, they dive for the wind-chime.

They land in a tangled heap on the floor, the wind-chime clutched in Natsu's hands. Natsu takes a deep breath and begins to laugh hysterically.

Gajeel growls for the millionth time, but then his jaw goes slack as he stares at the pink-tinted glass blossoms tangled in Natsu's fingers. "Salamander… _that's Wendy's exact wind-chime_!" he screams, clambering to his feet and trying to yank the chains out of Natsu's hands.

Unfortunately, they're wrapped around Natsu's fingers, resulting in an awful lot of yelling which gets them kicked out of the shop, especially when Gajeel makes the intelligent decision to mention some choice words to the store-worker who asks them to please quiet down.

On the bright side, the employee is kind enough to let them buy their _three_ new wind-chimes before they're ejected from the store and told to never return.

"We got it!" yells Natsu gleefully, rattling Wendy's new delicate wind-chime and fist-bumping Gajeel with the same hand.

In his other hand, he's holding a small, wrapped box containing a pretty glass wind-chime with little stars and moons and suns and things that remind him of Lucy's lampshade at home.

He wonders a little if Lucy will like his gift.


	12. Natsu 6

Basketball games are not Lucy's thing.

Natsu knows she feels out of place, jostled in the bleachers full of screaming people and wearing an old T-shirt (_his_ old T-shirt, he often notices smugly) instead of something, well, nicer. Like that tank top with a bow on it that she likes. It's one that _Loke_ likes, too, which is why _she should never wear it to basketball games._

Anyways, the way she describes games - it's always this same deal, which is shoving through cheering stands to find a seat (probably with a friend she begged to come with her). And finding a spot in the bleachers involves a lot of yelling and stepping on toes, which he knows she feels really bad about.

There was this one time – it was a big game, Natsu remembers, that's why the band was there – she was fighting her way through masses of people and brushing by the band when she accidentally knocked a resting tuba off of the bench, resulting in a _really_ loud clatter that made everyone turn around and stare.

Heck, even he whipped around to see what happened, and it was mid-game, while he was surrounded by the other team, _and_ he was holding the ball (so he kind of missed his chance at a decent pass).

He thinks it's all okay, though, because she always shows back up when he asks (begs) her to come. He just has to smile real big and say, "But, Luce, you're my lucky charm," and she lets out a long sigh that means she's agreed.

She wouldn't have agreed to come actually, but they're practically done with their history project, so there.

It's actually really awesome and involves FIRE so that pretty much means it's gonna beat anything the ice bastard does, so there… again.

And is that Loke yelling at Lucy right now that is so not cool _what_?!

"Hey, Pansy Prince, pay attention! The game's about to start!" yells Natsu. "Sabertooth's not gonna be an easy school to beat, so you gotta keep your head in the game!"

Almost immediately, some dickwad in the audience starts singing "Keep Your Head in the Game" from _High School Musical_. _Lame_. In fact, Natsu probably wouldn't have gotten the reference at all, if not for Lucy forcing him to watch all the movies. All. The. Movies. Just so she wouldn't feel left out for not having watched them. What a weirdo.

Loke doesn't look like he feels even a little bad for ignoring the game to flirt with people _who don't want to be flirted with by such a loser, okay_. He just throws a smirk at Lucy and walks off. Pansy-ass jerk prince!

But it's all okay; Natsu doesn't even care anymore 'cause Lucy just yelled super loudly "C'mon, Natsu! You can do this!" and that makes everything better. Loke can just go cry in a corner – Lucy likes _him_ best, and that's that.

Sting and Rogue are on the opposing team; he exchanges a serious nod with both of them, knowing he has to be civil 'cause they're okay people. As in Lucy insists they're nice, but he's kinda meh about trusting them.

He still remembers how they were friends with that girl who bullied Lucy, the one with the stupid hair…

The one Lucy _forgave_.

So, yeah, he doesn't really like any of them, but he trusts Luce so he could at least try to be nice, sort of. _Sort of._

As for the game, well, they're still going down. He isn't gonna let Fairy Tail lose their top position to Sabertooth – no way.

Also, Ice-Stripper would be an annoying fuck about the whole thing if they lost.

He shifts into position, edging in on defense towards Sting. He's kind of forgotten most of the play, but that's okay 'cause he's pretty sure it's gonna get thrown down the drain anyways as soon as Sting and Rogue try to bust through the defenses.

Loke glances at Natsu and motions for them to be on guard; good for him, the jerk-prince is actually paying attention. Which is really lucky 'cause Sting and Rogue look ready to put up a good fight.

Natsu narrows his eyes, casting his glance back to check if the other players are in position. Sabertooth's always been a top school, so this is gonna be a pretty tough game. But he's not gonna lose this; he _won't_.

As he turns, he can smell traces of Lucy's perfume and detergent on his jersey. She must've worn it recently; maybe he left it in her house on accident?

When he takes deep breaths, it's like Luce is right there next to him.

Sting lunges forward, and Natsu sprints after him, listening to the steady beat of the basketball on the ground, in time with his pounding footsteps and Lucy's screaming in the crowd.

He hears a distinct, "Go get him, Natsu!" and smiles. Maybe this game won't be so bad, after all.

* * *

**A/N: Mostly thought, little plot. Fluffy fic, makes you sick. The writing's crappy and a little too sappy. This rhyming is so bad that it makes me sad.**

**So ANYWAYS credit for the basketball idea goes to kissandmakeupgurl from like ages ago but I couldn't think of any ideas and I wanted to post at least something after finals and the end of school 'cause I hadn't really updated at all, so yeah. **


	13. Gray 7

It's the first time Gray has seen Juvia fight. Like, really _fight_.

It's also the first time in ages that he's felt a flash of fear and awe, like he's seen heaven and hell at once and somehow made it out alive.

Hint: these two things are connected.

The day starts relatively normally, actually. He isn't expecting anything out of the ordinary.

So all of his friends have played Fire Emblem before – like, an insanely weird amount, considering it's not even _that_ popular.

Like Mirajane's played it before, sweet and smiling and _the fucking devil of video games_. The game-crusher. SatanSoul – people halfway across the world have played games online and tremble in fear of her username.

Even Natsu bows down before her. Even Erza has been defeated by her before.

No cheats, no hacks, no _nothing. _The She-Devil is in a class of her own.

A really, really scary class.

Anyways, back to the point. Even Mira has played Fire Emblem, and so has Natsu and Loke and everyone else on the planet, practically. Well not really, but a whole fucking lot of people that Gray's associated with, for some stupid reason.

Gray's never even owned a copy of Fire Emblem of any sort, nor has he ever played before, which kind of sucks and makes him look lame even though Fire Emblem seems like it's for nerds and weebs and no one plays besides the lame-ass people Gray talks to and goddammit Gray _really_ needs a copy of Fire Emblem or he will be forever alienated.

So he goes to buy disc from the store – _walking_ because fucking Lyon has taken the car for who-knows-what and Ultear will kill him if he tries to borrow her car, even if she's trying to be nicer to him.

She would stab him through the skull, reverse time, and do it all over again.

The sky is cloudy and the air is heavy, hot, and humid: everything he hates. He gets his copy (_Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light_), and sees that kid from Sabertooth drooling over the rack of CDs – Rogue, was it?

"Shadow Dragon," he mumbles, stars in his eyes and a green cat-thing in his arms. The cat-frog-animal meows at Gray as he snatches a copy, and it's actually kind of cute even if he doesn't really know what it is.

"And the Blade of _Light_ – Sting _needs_ to see this," murmurs Rogue(?) to himself, and Gray grimaces, backing away quickly as Rogue continues, "This is destiny. _I am the Shadow Dragon_."

As he walks back home with his purchase, cursing the heat and the clouds and Lyon, he hears a scuffling in a nearby alley.

He takes a moment to think before he treads carefully in. What if he gets mugged? What if he gets killed? What if his super ninja jiu-jitsu powers that Ur taught him aren't enough?

No, no nono he's _strong_… ish… He can totally beat up whoever's in the alley!

But, well…

he's wrong.

So incredibly wrong.

The people in the alley happen to be some tall teenage guy with purple hair, and… _Juvia?_

"Juvia doesn't need you anymore," hisses Juvia, her voice more dangerous than Gray's ever heard. Even darker, scarier, than when she talks about her "love rivals". It's on a whole different level of anger, actually. "Juvia will _not_ come crawling back to you, and you will _leave. her. alone._"

The boy scowls. He looks really ugly, Gray thinks, and his outfit is fucking disgusting. Who is this guy anyways? How does he know Juvia? Gray could totally beat the shit out of him.

"Are you forgetting that _I_ left _you_?" asks the weird guy, twisting one of the rings on his fingers. "Who would be with you anyways, besides me?"

"Juvia has made many mistakes in her past, and you are one of her worst," Juvia says back to him, raising her voice. "Juvia no longer cares about you! Get away from her, Bora, or Juvia will hurt you right here, right now!"

Bora? No longer cares? _No longer?_ She cared about this guy?!

"Juvia-chan," says the boy, his voice low and angry. "Gloom and rain. You've changed a lot, but that doesn't mean you're different now. You were so sad when I left – now you can have me back. You wouldn't turn that down."

"You don't know Juvia. You've _never_ known Juvia," Juvia whispers now, her voice nearly inaudible.

Gray's just about to head over there and give this "Bora" a piece of his mind when suddenly the guy reaches for Juvia's face.

Swiftly, smoothly, she grabs his arm and twists it backwards in a way that shouldn't even be possible. And lightning fast, too; she moves in a blur of pale skin and blue coat-sleeves.

Bora jerks back. "_Let go of me!_"

Juvia does just that… and spin-kicks him so hard that he actually flies through the air and hits the wall behind him with a thud.

Gray gapes. She's so fast; he practically missed the movement.

"Get out of here, Bora," she scowls, her normally sunny smile replaced with a dark frown. "Juvia never wants to see you again."

Bora turns on his tail and runs out of there, clutching his twisted arm. He pushes past Gray, who's standing at the front of the alley, his mouth still wide open.

"Juvia… that was awesome!" he says as soon as he regains control of his body. "I mean, uh… I didn't know you could fight. That kick was really good. And your form was, uh, pretty good, too. Really fast. Yeah."

Great. Could he lose any more cool points than this?

Juvia whips around to stare at him in shock. "Gray-sama?!" she gasps, backing away. "You saw that?"

"Yeah, I did, and it was fucking amazing, actually," Gray admits, heading towards her. She shrinks back.

That's when Gray sees the tears on her face. He freezes.

"Juvia… shit, _Juvy,_ I mean… you okay?" he asks, worried.

What do the tears mean? Is she sad? Why's she sad? Was it something he said? Was it because of that guy Bora?

"Juvia is… Juvia is fine!" responds Juvia, a little too quickly. She wipes her tears aside. "Juvia was just caught off guard by… by someone she knew." Her voice drops to a whisper.

"Someone you didn't want to see?"

"Yes…" mumbles Juvia, watching him and biting her lips nervously. "Gray-sama is not disgusted?"

"Disgusted?" Gray scowls. "Why would I be disgusted?"

"That… that Juvia is not who you thought she is? That she can hurt and hurts people?"

Juvia looks scared about this – she actually looks _scared_ that he'll be horrified.

It's so weird and this is such a weird day and _wow_ he was not expecting any of this, really, he has no idea what's going on anymore, so he laughs. He even doubles over from laughter and has to hold his stomach. "Of course not," he manages to say, "You might even be better than I am." (Big fucking lie; two moves in and he can already tell he's a total loser compared to her.)

"Gray-sama thinks so?" asks Juvia, delighted. "Well… well good! Juvia is glad, because Juvia would not have changed her strength for the world! Uh, probably… She probably wouldn't… _No,_ of course not – Juvia is proud of herself! And… and… Gray-sama is sure, right?"

"Positive," laughs Gray. "One-hundred-fucking-percent positive."

Juvia grins.

(He never finds out who Bora is, or was, to her… not until months later, when he asks her about past boyfriends and she laughs nervously: "Gray-sama's actually met him before…")

* * *

**A/N: Welp, I was out for a long time, huh?**

**Months...**

**Yes, well, I regret to say so, but I probably won't be updating as frequently as I did all that time ago. But, hey, it's better than no updates and maybe thinking I died, right? Hahahaha... (Sorry guys.)**

**ALSO a bunch of reviews came in while I was away, and I can't thank you all enough. But they've piled up, so I won't be responding to them individually anymore. (Looks like I'm just full of disappointments today...) **

_**But! **_**Please know that I read and appreciate every one of your reviews, even if I don't message back anymore! All reviews are appreciated, and it's totally my fault that I'm such a dick. I'll take the blame, and you guys can just have some of those virtual cookies everyone seems to hand out.**

**(::)**


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